People love to yell and scream about those damn politicians, don’t they? Well, since fair is fair they should get a solid pat on the back for getting stuff right, shouldn’t they?
New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Friday that allows satellite-mapping services, such as Google Maps, to be admitted into evidence at trial. It was passed in the waning days of the last legislative session ending in June, and Cuomo just inked it. (Part of CPLR 4511)
I know, that’s a little thing, isn’t it? Especially since federal courts are already doing it.
But it’s one of those little things that oils the wheels of justice so that they creak along just a little bit more efficiently.
The bill summary is here:
“Allows judicial notice of an image, map, location, distance, calculation, or other information taken from a web mapping service, a global satellite imaging site, or an internet mapping tool, when requested by a party to the action, subject to a rebuttable presumption.”
And, of course, there isn’t anything even remotely partisan about it. It just makes it a little bit easier to move things along when you stand in the well of the courtroom.
Last year, for those that remember back that far, there had been several new laws regarding civil justice that improved things in New York, including a terrific change in Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (SUM) insurance, a change in the statute of limitations in medical malpractice cases to add a date of discovery rule for cancer cases, and a modest change in the venue law.
With the both legislative houses now in the hands of one party due to the Blue Wave that swept the country as backlash to Trump there is the opportunity for more progress (and yes, more mischief).
Maybe we will finally see the Grieving Families Act pass for the families of wrongful death victims?
Perhaps we can finally stop the judicially-created law that allows defense lawyers to interview a plaintiff’s doctors — off the record and without plaintiff’s counsel even being notified.
Maybe we will see some anti-SLAPP legislation?
(Hey, maybe, maybe we will even see my pet project, Eric’s Law, move forward to wipe out some of the last vestiges of the idiotic ad damnum clause?)
I’ll be watching, as the coming session has the opportunity to be one of he most significant in many, many years.